Late run pushes Mighty Macs to CSAC title

ASTON – Picked by league coaches to finish no higher than seventh in the 2013-14 preseason basketball poll, the Immaculata women used that slight as motivation all winter, and are now going to play for the Colonial States Athletic Conference championship on Saturday.

The Mighty Macs scored 13 of the final 15 points on Wednesday to stun host Neumann, 60-53, in the semifinals of the CSAC Tournament at the Mirenda Center, and will meet top-seeded Cabrini in the title game. Immaculata (19-8 overall) is now just one win away from its first conference crown as a Division III member, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

“We’ve always struggled in this gym,” acknowledged IU head coach Patty Canterino. “But we beat (Neumann) here earlier this year, we had a good practice (Tuesday) and we came in with a focus and intensity you just can’t manufacture.

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“Afterwards, I told them, ‘your parents are proud of you and the school is proud of you, and maybe as coaches we don’t tell you enough how proud we are of you.’

“They were able to be mentally tough and physically tough, and they made big things happen.”

When the buzzer sounded, the team celebrated at center court with a mass hug, and just as she was throughout the contest, junior guard Sara Smith was at the heart of it all. More than making up for her foul-plagued quarterfinal outing two days earlier, Smith was a dominant figure for the Macs, scoring a game-high 27 points.

“Sara just makes big things happen,” said Canterino, who termed her performance ‘a monster.’ “She is very important to this team. I’ve never seen anybody have the kind of work ethic she has. If I tell her to work on something, she does it. She does whatever it takes to make herself better, and she certainly makes our team better.”

It was a terrific postseason battle between two teams that shared second place in a 12-team CSAC (12-4 record) and split a pair of regular season meetings. As you might expect, the rubber match was close with 13 lead changes and eight ties. But in the final 4:25, Immaculata outscored the Knights 13-2.

“I think we played our best game of the season,” Smith said. “The intensity was very high and our team had a lot of energy from the bench players, to the starters, to the coaches.”

Trailing by three, Canterino went with full-court pressure defense in the final three minutes of play and it led to a critical 10-second call against Neumann, followed by three steals, including two by junior guard Mackie Fitzgerald. Smith delivered a three-point play with 40 seconds remaining to give the Mighty Macs the lead for good, and then IU closed it out by making 5-6 from the foul line, including a pair from Smith.

“I thought our defense was just stellar,” Canterino said. “I thought we put the press on at the right time and made some things happen.

“Neumann can hit clutch shots when they need it, so we said we have to keep the ball in their backcourt. We got that 10-second call and it really seemed to spur us on.”

In all, Neumann (15-10 overall) was forced into 23 turnovers and managed to shoot just 31.7 percent from the field. Afterwards, Smith said that being picked seventh in the 12-team conference back in November was both unifying and motivational.

“Patty always says, ‘seventh,’” she admitted. “We know what it means and when we hear that it kind of lights a fire under us.”

Canterino explained: “We had a disappointing season last year – it’s not a secret. We finished seventh last season, so that’s where we were projected. It’s not really about proving anybody wrong, but we knew this junior class was going to make big things happen.”

Thanks to a pronounced edge on the boards, Neumann methodically built a nine-point first half lead. But IU stormed back to tie it, 28-28, at the break thanks to a truly inspired scoring stretch by Smith. She poured in 19 consecutive points for the Mighty Macs from the midway point to late in the first half, and wound up with all but nine of her team’s points in the opening 20 minutes.

“I was just giving my best and I’m sure all of my teammates were too,” Smith said. “It just happened that my shots were falling.”

The Knights had a 55-38 edge on the boards, but Immaculata made up for it by knocking down 18 of 21 from the free throw line, including 8-9 by Smith.

“Our work at the line was incredible,” Canterino said.

Junior center Brittany Merkle had 11 points and 10 boards for IU, and Alison Zimny chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds. Former Oxford High School star Erica Marvel had 10 points for Neumann playing in the final game of her college career.

Dating back to joining the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference/CSAC in 1992, the Macs have qualified for the playoffs 10 times, but have only made one other appearance in the final. It happened in 2011, with Immaculata falling to Neumann 66-60.

“To win here at Neumann is special,” Smith said. “We are all excited, but it’s not over yet. We are going to enjoy this but we have to get ready for (Cabrini).”